August 28, 2009

Feudalism’s Aversion to Education

Feudalism and education are anathema to each other. One derogates the other particularly in the present-day Pakistani social milieu. In Europe, on the other hand, where feudalism was the prevalent system during the middle ages, from 800 to 1350 AD (550 years), the feudal barons and the church (another conservative sector of society) were instrumental in setting up educational institutions including several universities. These institutions pulled Europe out of the Dark Age that followed the fall of the Great Roman Empire and put Western Europe in particular on the path to renaissance, enlightenment, science, technology and industrialization.

Emperor Charlemagne, the most prominent intellectual and king of the age of feudalism, who ruled over Europe for almost half a century, 769 to 814, considered literacy essential to the rebirth of the Roman Empire of his dream. He commanded every cathedral and monastery of his kingdom to establish schools. “Take care”, he ordered, “to make no difference between the sons of serfs and of freemen, so that they might come and sit on the same benches to study grammar, music, and arithmetic.”

On the other hand, the path followed by the feudal aristocracy of Pakistan, after Independence, has been totally regressive. The peasants and serfs were deprived of educational facilities and treated like slave labor.

Sixty-two years after Independence, one is surprised to find that the tentacles of feudalism have become firmer and harsher. Feudal dynasties now control half a dozen political parties including PML(Q), PML(N) and, ironically enough, the People’s Party too which claims to be the champion of the poor and the downtrodden but which has over the past three decades remained the handmaid of the Bhutto clan.

Benazir Bhutto maneuvered to become the elected (?) head of her party for lifetime. After her assassination, her son and husband became co-heads of the party! Bhuttos are born to rule, Nusrat Bhutto had claimed. On becoming the co-chair of PPP, Bilawal Zardari was declared Bilawal ‘ Bhutto’ Zardari chiefly to underline his descent, therefore his right to lead the PPP. Dynasty had once again trumped meritocracy.

The end of the British rule in South Asia also marked the beginning of the end of feudalism -the British system of indirect control - in all countries of the region with the glaring exception of Pakistan. Education has perhaps been the biggest casualty of this act of omission.

The exigencies of the early years of the state, allowed the leadership

to put on hold land reforms, while India managed to absorb into its polity some 600 princely states and reform the system of land holding.

The rapacious rural aristocracy of Pakistan became the biggest force for the maintenance of status quo in politics and policy making. No wonder the first general elections could not be held before 1970 - 23 years after the creation of Pakistan.

The feudal lords of West Pakistan, masquerading as socialists under Bhutto’s People’s Party, refused to hand over power to a commoner from the Eastern wing despite the fact that the latter had won an overwhelming majority in the parliament.

Bhutto nationalized all key industries virtually demolishing the hold of the industrial and commercial barons and the fast developing market economy. His PPP allowed space to feudal lords who replaced the industrial barons or their surrogates in the parliament following the 1970 general elections.

Bhutto was the leader of the land barons and his daughter, Benazir, headed the coterie till her assassination on December 26, 2007.

Nawabzada Nasrullah Khan, a blue-blooded landlord, held the feudal fort for her during the entire period that she remained abroad to avoid the corruption charges against her in courts of law. Like Benazir, the Nawabzada too attributed all his activities to his zeal for democracy. After Benazir, her husband and son have grabbed the reins of the PPP.

During the entire history of the country, education has remained sadly neglected. Educational reforms, whenever carried out, such as those of President Ayub or of Prime Minister Z.A. Bhutto, touched the issues only superficially without developing a questioning mind among the youth of the country lest they challenge the feudal domination.

The result of such a criminal neglect of the educational sector is that today nearly a third of 5-9 year olds are out of school and literacy rate is 38 per cent only. Allocations for education have lingered for years around 2.3 per cent of GNP per annum as against a minimum of 4 per cent recommended by the UN.

In his very first speech to the parliament, Prime Minister Zafrullah Jamali, a prominent landlord of Baluchistan, assured his audience that there would be no land reforms in his five-year tenure. Prime Minister Gilani in his first speech increased the official purchase price of wheat and argued that Pakistan’s economy being agrarian, his government will give all help to the agricultural sector.

Of all the economic sectors of a society, the lowest value added products are rendered by agriculture.

Military leaders, Zia and Musharraf, too aligned themselves with the feudal aristocracy in order to have a semblance of civilian support. Neglect of education kept emaciating the middle class, the real backbone of any society, with the result that the community comprised only two sectors - the rulers and the ruled. The religious schools set up during Zia’s rule of over 11 years produced young men fit to be cannon fodders instead of being economically productive elements of society.

Musharraf’s lengthy rule too failed to impart due emphasis to education. The US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, has just come out with the comment that Musharraf paid little heed to the US urgings to give special attention to education. If he had done that, she claims, the hold of religious seminaries would have notably weakened.

Here in the US, highest priority is given to education. Readers of this column would recall that the single most significant factor in their ability to reach this country and eke out a decent living has been their education back home or that acquired in this country.

As for the quality of education, one finds that the students who opt for science subjects fail to apply a scientific approach to their subjects, as the educational system stifles their imagination, creativity and curiosity. It is the spirit of inquiry that makes a nation, and its absence mars it and relegates it to the dustbin of history.

Pakistan is producing annually around 100 PhDs, as against 5,000 by India!

Education is not, lamentably, considered crucial and the very life-blood for a society’s survival and progress.

The generation that came to Pakistan from India carrying with them a high value for education has gradually faded out and their children too have absorbed the feudalistic spirit of getting something for nothing. Or, they have managed to leave the country for foreign lands where they could labor and live well, unhindered and unsuppressed by the ruling elite charged with the feudal spirit.

The unskilled, semi-skilled workers too managed during 1975-90 to reach the Middle East to earn respectable wages. Their remittances enabled their families to send their children to schools. But, the rapacious politicians and their corrupt bureaucratic minions had, meanwhile, set up a system of ghost schools to misappropriate government funds. Ten per cent of some 42,000 schools in Sindh, for instance, had become schools on paper only. The percentage in Punjab was no better. The children of the workers in the Middle East, particularly those hailing from remote villages, had acquired the means to go to schools but there were no schools within easy reach. So they went to the religious schools attached to local mosques where they could hardly get the education that would enable them to make a decent living and contribute to the community’s well being.

The feudal aristocracy, one sincerely hopes, would realize that the days of inheriting power and pelf by birth have to end sooner than later. If they do not see the writing on the wall, the wind of change will sweep them down into dust. - Arifhussaini@hotmail.com